A pair of eagles helps bring Kraus Metropolitan crown

June 08, 1991|By John W. Stewart

Sylvia Francus missed seeing her daughter Andrea's eagle-3 at No. 9, so the Woodholme member produced another, chipping in for a 2 at No. 12 en route to a 5-and-4 victory over Sally Casey of Green Spring yesterday.

This was the championship match of the annual Metropolitan tournament, conducted by the Women's Golf Association at the Country Club of Maryland, and it showcased the best golf of the weeklong event.

Andrea Kraus turned 3-up, and was 3-under par for the 14 holes. Casey included two birdies in her tour and was 4-over for the match.

The title was the fourth for Kraus, 30, in 13 years. She was putting for a third eagle when she closed out the match with a birdie at No. 14, the No. 1 handicap hole.

Kraus sealed the victory by carrying the first of two ditches on her drive at the 378-yard hole, then knocking her second shot pin-high and narrowly missing the 20-foot putt.

It marked the first time the champion had had two eagles in a round, as she holed a 25-foot pitch shot from off the ninth green, and hit driver and sand wedge at the 221-yard 12th, sinking a blind second shot from behind a bunker left of the green.

While Kraus, backed by a 2 handicap, was recording these heroics, Casey, an 11-handicapper, was playing her game, and unfazed by consistently being out-driven.

"I knew that would happen,, so I didn't let it bother me. I was concentrating on making pars, and making it a close match," said Casey, who said she was more relaxed and ready to play than two years ago when she was a losing finalist.

Casey was playing well enough to have won a lot of matches, but she won only three holes, one after the third. It was a round when even birdies were not good enough to win.